Join some of today's most electrifying talents in the worlds of music, literature, and the dramatic arts at a series of intimate events in private homes. All proceeds support Symphony Space's arts and education programs.

Philip Glass in discussion with Tania LeónCocktail party in the home of Ina Bort and Catherine Sharkey (Upper West Side)Composer and conductor Tania León talks with the world-famous composer of Einstein on the Beach and Satyagraha about his life, art, and influences. Enjoy cocktails and hors d'eouvres with the composers following the discussion. Featuring a performance by pianist Timo Andres.

About the artists: Through his operas, his symphonies, his compositions for his own ensemble, and his wide-ranging collaborations with artists ranging from Twyla Tharp to Allen Ginsberg, Woody Allen to David Bowie, Philip Glass has had an extraordinary and unprecedented impact upon the musical and intellectual life of his times. In the past 25 years, Glass has composed more than twenty operas, eight symphonies, numerous concertos, and film soundtracks. He has collaborated with Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Yo-Yo Ma, and Doris Lessing, among many others. He presents lectures, workshops, and solo keyboard performances around the world, and continues to appear regularly with the Philip Glass Ensemble

His operas play throughout the world's leading houses, and rarely to an empty seat. Glass has written music for experimental theater and for Academy Award-winning motion pictures such as "The Hours" and Martin Scorsese's "Kundun," while "Koyaanisqatsi," his initial filmic landscape with Godfrey Reggio and the Philip Glass Ensemble, may be the most radical and influential mating of sound and vision since "Fantasia." His associations with leading rock, pop and world music artists date back to the 1960s, including the beginning of his collaborative relationship with artist Robert Wilson. Indeed, Glass is the first composer to win a wide, multi-generational audience in the opera house, the concert hall, the dance world, in film and in popular music - simultaneously.

Grammy-nominated composer Tania León, (b. Havana, Cuba) is a highly regarded composer and conductor and is recognized for her accomplishments as an educator and advisor to arts organizations. Her opera Scourge of Hyacinths, based on a play by Wole Soyinka with staging and design by Robert Wilson, received over 20 performances throughout Europe and Mexico. Commissioned by Hans Werner Henze and the city of Munich for the Fourth Munich Biennale, it took home the coveted BMW Prize. Its aria "Oh Yemanja" was recorded by Dawn Upshaw.

Commissions include works for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, Koussevitzky Foundation, Fest der Kontinente, the NEA, NDR Sinfonie Orchester, American Composers Orchestra, The Library of Congress, among others. León has appeared as guest conductor with numerous orchestras throughout the world. Leon has received many recognitions and honors, including being inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2010.

Timo Andres (b. 1985, Palo Alto, CA) is a composer and pianist who grew up in rural Connecticut and now lives in Brooklyn, NY. Recent highlights include solo recitals at Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, (le) Poisson Rouge, and San Francisco Performances; a weekend of performances in Los Angeles, featuring a new work for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and a performance of his re-composition of the Mozart “Coronation” Concerto; and performances of Crashing Through Fences by eighth blackbird. Collaborative projects of the past season include a duo program with Gabriel Kahane at the Library of Congress, and a world premiere performance of selected Philip Glass Études, alongside the composer, as part of Nico Muhly’s “A Scream and An Outrage” festival at the Barbican.